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BRIEF STORY AND DESCRIPTION OF THE CINTA SENESE BREED OF PIGS.

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0100

I have received a few emails asking me what the small animal I am holding in my arms in the photograph I used in the introduction to the blog is. It is not a mysterious creature, it is a 2 month old piglet of the Cinta Senese breed that we raise on our farm. Let me give you some background information on this animal.

The Cinta Senese is a very particular breed of pigs that risked extinction up to the end of the 1990’s. It owes its name to its black coat with a white sash (called a Cinta in Italian) that runs across its shoulders, sides and front legs. Medium in size (adult pigs run between 160-200 Kgs in weight), it has sturdy limbs, long ears that cover and protect its eyes from branches and a long snout with a very thick grout that allows it to dig in the dirt at ease. These characteristics allow it to live as a free range animal in the woodlands of Tuscany.

The breed is native to the Tuscan Region and in particular to the mountainous areas near Siena and dates back prior to the middle ages. A Cinta Senese is depicted in the fresco by Ambrogio Lorenzetti dating back to 1337 (called the Buon Governo) in the Palazzo Comunale in Siena’s Piazza del Campo. It was a popular farm animal probably due to its heartiness and easy adaptability to all types of outdoor habitats.

At my farm, Casamonti, near Castellina in Chianti, we were among the first group of breeders who decided to try to rescue the breed from the extinction list. I was one of the founding fathers and later President of the Consortium that was founded to protect the genetic heritage of the Cinta Senese breed. The Consortium’s purpose was to save the race and to promote and guarantee the origin and distribution of the products obtained from this spectacular breed of animals. The Consortium applies the most stringent breeding rules of any other similar breeding organization in Europe.

This breed is now off the endangered species list and its meat was recently awarded the D.O.P. classification from the European Community as a product of high quality tightly tied to tradition and is now listed among those culinary excellencies that render Tuscany and Italy so famous around the world.

The D.O.P. is classified as “Suino Cinto Toscano D.O.P. tipo Genetico Cinta Senese” and is reserved to the meat obtained from animals of pure Cinta Senese breed with certified origins that can only be raised in Tuscany and must be free range and fed with a combination of natural grazing and selected cereals, guaranteed as free from all genetic modifications.

The piglets are certified just after birth and provided with an ear tag that lists their genetic background. The fresh meats they provide are transformed into those products that are typical of Tuscan tradition, and they all carry a plastic band that certifies the product’s origin by the Consortium that controls the genetic heritage of the animals. This band allows you to trace the final product all the way back to the original animal it was produced from.

Casamonti’s Cinte Senesi are bred free range in the woodlands and their daily diet is integrated with specially formulated cereal mixtures that vary according to their stages of development, although, truth be said, they prefer digging for a root or eating a wild mushroom to the easy food provided for them.

When they reach two years of age, they are taken to the butchery and then the meat is transformed directly in the estate salumificio (laboratory) into the typical Tuscan products that include salami, finocchione, fresh sausage, seasoned pork loin, salt bacon, capocolli, cured lard, and the famous prosciutto. The products are cured in special rooms according to the length of time it takes them to be ready for consumption. This is a totally natural process, and in the case of the prosciutto, for example, can well last more than two years.

Casamonti, thanks to the high quality standards of its products, is quoted among the top best producers in Tuscany and has won various awards and recognitions and boasts fans and clients all across the world. Visits to the farm are organized on a daily basis with tasting of the wines and Cinta products. Just send an email to Anna Rita

WHAT YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Italy is one of the major producers of olive oils, but it is rather easy to get lost in the complicated distinctions and meanings of the denominations and qualifications that these oils are given. The ones I am most familiar with are the Tuscan Olive Oils, so I will be more precise in describing these for you. My aim is to give you a good general grasp of what the world of olive oil is all about.

Let’s consider two separate aspects of this wonderful product: the plants that produce olives, and the actual olive oil. One of the things of interest that many people aren’t aware of is that there are several thousand cultivar varieties of olive trees in the world. They generally vary quite a lot from region to region and country to country. The cultivation of the olive tree has always been centered on the Mediterranean countries, with Italy, Spain, Greece, and now some of the Arab countries such as Tunisia, representing the major productions.

Italy itself uses nearly one thousand different olive varieties. They run from the smaller trees that line the lakes in northern Italy and produce a few kilograms of olives per plant to the huge olive trees in the Puglia region that yield hundreds of kilograms each. The olive tree is cultivated from sea level up to a maximum altitude of 700 meters. Above that, it gets too cold in winter for it to survive.

In Tuscany the major cultivars that are used (and specified by the various consortiums that control and regulate the individual denominations) are: Frantoio, Correggiolo, Moraiolo, and Leccino, with smaller quantities (usually up to a total of 20%) of Maurino and Pendolino (these are called “pollinators” because they serve to pollinate the flowers of the other plants, although they also produce olives – they are not really male and female plants, the distinction is exquisitely botanical and I will not dwell on it as it would take pages to explain).

The olive is an evergreen plant. It spends the winter resting, but alive, with its leaves green and continuing to photosynthesize, but with most of the plant’s lymph pulled down into the roots to protect it from freezing temperatures. Freezing rain that can stick to the tree are its worse enemies. Parasites instead, rarely affect the tree, but either attack its leaves or the olives once they are developing.

At the end of winter, the olive tree begins to vegetate on a larger scale, filling in with new branches and leaves. Then, in an arc of time - depending on the area and the outside temperatures - that runs from early may to mid June, it first produces buds that look like tiny olives, which then turn into small not very significant flowers (see the pictures at the bottom of the page). Once pollinated, the wind and the rain clean the flowers off the trees, and after a short time the tiny olives will appear.

The olives will continue to grow and mature through to late November, but are generally harvested when still not totally ripe, from late September to early November. The reason for this early harvest is to preserve the “spiciness” in the olives that will then be carried into the oil, and also to avoid having them fall to the ground. A ripe olive drops immediately from the tree, but olives on the ground immediately start to oxidize and are not usable.

The Denominations: there are an incredible number of subdivisions of olive oil. The ones you really should consider are the DOP Olive Oils (Protected Denomination of Origin, which means that they are from a specific set of varietals, and from a certain region, and picked and pressed according to standard protocols), the IGP oils (Protected Geographical Indication, which means they are from a specific area, for example Tuscan IGP), and then the vast line of Extra Virgin Olive Oils.

To detail this with more precision, let us take the Chianti Classico DOP Olive Oil. It is produced from the varietals I mentioned earlier; the olive must be pressed within three days of harvest to ensure that there is no oxidation in progress; the maximum temperature at pressing is of 28° centigrade; the total acidity, expressed in oleic acid, is a at a maximum of 0,5%; the olive oil produced is sampled, analyzed and presented to a special tasting panel in order to be awarded the DOP classification. The same goes for the DOP Colli Senesi Olive Oil, while most of the IGP Olive Oils have a total acidity that may run up to a maximum of 0,6%. Extra Virgin first press olive oil, which is the most common you will find, and still of very high quality, can reach a maximum of 1% acidity.

Now, to confuse you a little more, lesser quality productions run under the qualification of generic olive oil, and this can also be a blend of different kinds of oil and it can be a) from different countries, b) from different years, c) reach up to 1.5% acidity. It is fine to use to fry with, but you will be hard-put to find an Italian who uses this lower quality oil to put on his salad or on his steak. And, last but not least, the denominations encompass one another, in the sense that a DOP olive oil is also an IGP oil and it is also an extra virgin olive oil – all at the same time. The reverse is not true.

Many producers will obtain the DOP denomination for their oil, then bottle part of it as DOP, and part of it as Extra Virgin Olive Oil, so that they can satisfy all their clients. It is interesting to note, for those of you who also follow some of the cooking programs on Television, that many chefs still do not understand the difference between an Extra Virgin Olive Oil and DOP Olive Oil. It will take a few more years for it to be clear to everyone. One last note, if an oil of any of the denominations has the added classification of "Biologico" on it, this means that it is produced from olive groves that have not been chemically treated - the equivalent of "Organic".

WEIRD IMPRESSIONS OF A NEW DIGITAL CAMERA.

Sat, 17 Jul 2010 00:00:00 +0200

I have always taken all the photographs we put in the Tuscan Enterprises catalogue, (and then, later on, the ones used for the websites) since we started our Villa Rental business some 30 years ago. I remember my first camera was a simple Minolta and all settings were by hand – no TTL, no automation except an exposimeter, and all settings written down for use in similar situations. I still have a lot of those photographs and some are among the best ones we have ever used in the catalogue.

I admit that I did get some decent training in photography from my maternal grandfather, who was a professional photographer and had been apprenticed as a young boy to the famous Alinari Photographers in Florence. He had all the camera settings memorized in his brain and knew exactly what to do in whatever situation or condition. Speed and F-stops were his daily bread and we still have some great photos taken by him during the 10 year period when he was the official ship photographer for the Costa Cruise ship lines. We are going back a good 40 years here.

Anyway, as soon as the first semi-automatic Minolta came out, it was mine and then I spent a small fortune in buying flashes, lenses of all kinds and really learning the basics of modern photography. Mind you, nothing to do with portraits, but everything to do with landscapes, houses, interior decorations, and all those things so necessary to a Villa rental catalogue such as we produce.

In the course of the years, I bought three new SLR Minoltas – ending up with the 800SI DYNAX that, together with my trusty METZ flash has done very well by me and continues to hold a warm spot in my heart. But, as time progressed, I kept waiting for Minolta to follow Canon, Sony, Nikon, and the others and come out with its own Digital Camera. It never happened, as the company wound up on the verge of bankruptcy and was bought up by Sony.

I finally decided to buy a Digital Camera this year and was all set on a Canon 50D, and ready to dish out a small fortune for new lenses, but when I walked into the “Fotoamatore” shop in Siena, with a lens in one hand and a forlorn look on my face, the young shop manager told me to cheer up and to buy the Sony 550 Alpha because Sony had made sure that all the Minolta owners could switch to Sony and continue to use their expensive lenses on its models.

I think this was the greatest and nicest surprise of the year for me. So he packed up the little jewel, gave me a new Metz flash as mine was not compatible with the new camera, loaded me up with a couple of boxes of instructions, CD’s, battery packs and a complimentary lens and trundled me on my way, having spent about a third of what I had expected. So I was beaming when I took my new camera out of the box, assembled the pieces according to instructions, charged the battery pack and also the flash’s battery pack. I was ready to rumble.

I then made the mistake of picking up the instruction book. It is a small booklet, but super thick and almost totally incomprehensible. The camera has something like 150 different functions, each dial or wheel does a variety of things and you can practically make fresh coffee with it. But the reasoning behind it is really a bit daunting. So, I set the camera to automatic and took a few shots.

Hey, they were really great!! Then I attached the flash and wondered what settings I would have to put using the manual system, but decided to take a few internal shots just to see what came out and the camera whirred and made funny noises, flashed and the pictures were better than anything I ever did using my manual settings in the past.

So, the art of modern digital photography, apparently, is to put your camera on automatic and just point at stuff and click the button. The camera does the rest. Great for those who use it for work, like myself, and need to do a lot of photos quickly without having to do too much retouching with Photoshop on them afterwards, but….you know, I think it has taken away all the creativity that I remember my grandfather used to put into his work. It wasn’t just a photograph for him – it was the immortalization of a precise moment in time. I think his pictures will go on being appreciated forever; while my more consumeristic ones will last the short time they are really needed and then be forgotten.

The picture of the camera was taken with my Iphone. The other pictures are tests taken with the Sony itself.

WHAT ARE YOUR TRAVEL RIGHTS AND YOUR OBLIGATIONS?

Tue, 27 Apr 2010 00:00:00 +0200

In the course of 29 years of operation as Tour Operators, here at Tuscan Enterprises we have witnessed practically everything that the world can throw at travelers coming to Tuscany or Europe in general. From early 1990 terrorist attacks on trains and airports, to the cancellation of all flights right after the disaster of 9/11 and the Twin Towers, to the latest airport shutdown caused by the Icelandic Eyjafjallajokull (totally unpronounceable) volcano’s ash. Each time some major disaster takes place, I always wonder why it is so impossible for airport authorities and local administrations to handle the problems that present themselves, and which are, basically, always the same.

First off you have a series of people and families that are stranded. They were looking forward to a holiday and suddenly are faced with unfriendly airport lobbies and people who really do not know what to tell them or what advice to give. I have always strongly supported the view that there should be an organized task force ready to enter the situation and help people solve their immediate and urgent problems. This task force should be composed of airline experts, airport authorities (meaning those who run the airports – do not make the mistake of thinking that the airports are run by the airline companies because this is not the case), local administrations and especially staff from the tourist offices.

People need to be informed if the holdup is short or extended and if it will ruin their holiday and force them to postpone it. This is generally up to the airport authorities to tell them. If it is just a hiccup of the system and tied to something minor such as engine trouble or replacement of an airplane with another, or a question of overbooking or such similar problems (hassles, but not serious in the end), then they can be dealt with immediately by the airlines, which are responsible for rebooking and rescheduling the flights and putting up people in local hotels or other accommodations while solving the situation.

If the problem is more complicated, such as flights being cancelled because of some disaster (natural or otherwise), then the airport authorities and the local administrations need to step in and set up specific help desks to assist passengers. Assistance will span the gamut from rescheduling flights, to booking alternative travel via trains or rental cars or bus lines, to finding alternative accommodations for people who can expect to face an extended wait.

This was totally missing during the latest volcano disaster: if the associations that represent local Hotels and Bed and Breakfasts had been present with help desks in the airports, a lot of people would have found alternative accommodations instead of being taken in by hustlers and others who took advantage of them in such a despicable way. The airlines did what they could, but they too were overwhelmed as their responsibility was limited to rescheduling flights, reimbursing tickets, or booking single nights in local hotels. The brunt of the problems that rose was left entirely to them to handle and this is not fair.

Now, what should you do once you find out that you cannot have your flight rescheduled and will probably miss your holiday completely? The first thing is something you should have done when you made your booking if you were due to go to a hotel or to a Villa or similar accommodation: have taken out holiday cancellation insurance.

We suggest this on our website, tour operators suggest it to their clients and so do the travel agents. You can generally get a good deal from your own insurance company and it is worth the cost of 2 – 3% of your total holiday expense. If you do not have cancellation insurance, then the loss is totally yours, with exception of the cancelled flights which airlines will reschedule or reimburse, and if you are on an organized tour, then part of your tour package includes cancellation insurance.

The first thing to do is to notify your family at home and also the people waiting for you at your destination (hotel, villa key holder, agency office, etc) that you are not going to arrive and that they should not wait for you. If the Hotel manages to rebook your rooms, then they are likely to not charge you anything. A Villa or house owner, on the other hand, will probably not be able to find alternative guests on short notice and will not reimburse you as they have simply lost the booking. The nicer owners will let you reschedule a holiday at a later date at a discounted cost to help make up for your ruined holiday. But they are not responsible for your plight. If you have cancellation insurance, at least, asking the owner or the Travel Agent to write a declaration attesting that you were not present for your booked holiday, will put you in condition to claim the full reimbursement from the insurance company.

So, my final advice is really down to that one simple basic bit: purchase holiday cancellation insurance when you book your holiday. You will not be sorry you did so. And have patience when faced with this kind of a problem as there is very little that you can do directly to solve it. Be sure to ask advice from those who are in charge as they are the most updated on what is actually happening.

Photos courtesy of The Boston Globe and my compliments to the photographer.

WILD ASPARAGUS

Tue, 13 Apr 2010 00:00:00 +0200

If you happen to be driving along the back roads of Tuscany (or Italy, in general) and you see people bent over in funny positions scrutinizing the ground up and down the slopes or tangled up in the thickets and underbrush, don’t think they are crazy lunatics or in that they are in trouble – they are probably looking for wild asparagus. This is the season and it is almost a religious experience to search for the elusive shoots.

There are two moments of the year when you see lots of locals out scouring the woodlands: the first is from mid-March to end of April when they are out trying to find the lacy ferns that indicate wild asparagus shoots, and the second is from September to mid October when it is wild Porcini mushroom season.

Wild asparagus are incredibly tasty and have little in common with the domestic varieties that so richly adorn everyone’s tables in this period. Wild asparagus are hard to find and almost impossible to buy because there are very few who will relinquish them after hours spent gathering them in the more impervious sections of the bramble and thistle undergrowth. They are a magnificent present to give to anyone and quite an honor to receive. The long stalks can reach over a meter in length and you usually only use the tender top 10 centimeters of the asparagus itself.

They break easily, so care needs to be taken when cleaning them and preparing them for use. In Tuscany, they are generally either sautéed with some onions and then eggs are added to make a wonderful Frittata, or they become the principal ingredient in a special risotto that you only make during this season. The taste is very intense and rich. There is a huge difference when compared to farmed asparagus.

I have seen attempts made to raise a varietal that imitates the wild version of the asparagus and this particular variety is sometimes seen in the open air markets, but it is a tame version of the true wild asparagus, which is so fantastic in its taste and which entails so much effort to be harvested. The two bunches in the featured picture took Anna Rita and I all morning and several kms of walking on our farm at Casamonti to pick.

SPRING IS IN THE AIR

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Spring is in the air. You can feel it here in Tuscany and smell it. The daffodils are popping up their yellow heads all over the place and the almond trees are covered with tiny white flowers. At Tuscan Enterprises we are getting last minute requests for Easter and the April weeks, and on the farm at Casamonti, our first wine and Cinta Senese tastings are starting and you can tell that our guests have springtime and the sun on their minds. The dreariness of winter is finally behind us.

This is a very busy period for those working in tourism because all the last-minute arrangements are being done in the Villas, farmhouses and “agriturismi” – washing and cleaning of the covers for the beds and sofas, checking the kitchen inventories and replacing broken equipment with nice shiny new things. It is a really positive moment for all renters who look forward to the start of the season.

The farming estates are also busy after such a long winter with all the snow and rain that hit Italy this year. The final pruning and tying of the vines is now being completed – fertilization of the vineyards and olive groves is under way, and soon the first tilling of the vineyards and olive trees will take place. Gardens are being seeded and plants put in vases and in the flower beds.

There is a lot of activity going on also in the wine cellars because this is one of the periods during the year when wines are filtered and moved from the large steel containers into the wooden casks and barriques for aging. Blends of different wines are also being selected and will be ready to bottle soon, once the next moon wanes. The moon is important because it affects wine just as it affects tides, and bottling of wines is generally done during the days of the dying moon.

The gardens are also planted when the moon is waning. That way the plants will stay still and adapt to their new soil until the moon waxes down to nothing and then they will start to grow just as the moon starts its new cycle. The moon is very important to all those who work in agriculture and its cycles are followed carefully.

Spring also brings new life to the forests and you can see all the new budding vegetation if you take a walk through them. The grass is suddenly greener and everyone is generally in a more optimistic mood. The only thing we all gripe about is the daylight savings time with our clocks put forward an hour.

But the complaining is not due to our loss of an hour of sleep and that we have to readapt our circadian cycles to the new time, but because those who raise and breed animals have to slowly retrain them to accepting that everything in their lives is happening an hour later. This is not so easy when you have cows or sheep or goats that are used to being milked at a specific time and you have to coax them into accepting that it has to be done an hour later. It takes a good month to get them adapted to the new cycle.

All in all, spring is one of the best times to visit the Chianti Classico region, Tuscany, and in Italy in general. The weather is still mild so you don’t have the cold of winter to fight against any longer and the heavy heat of summer is not yet pressing on you. I think it is one of the most enjoyable times to be here – far from the “madding crowds” so to speak and ideal for walking around and visiting all the little towns that Italy is so famous for. To me, this is the time to come if you want a leisurely holiday, so I hope to see a lot of interesting people from different lands visiting this fabulous country of ours.

HUNTING AND GUNS IN ITALY

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Bang bang whammy shoot shoot kapow!! Every year come September, here at the Tuscan Enterprises office we get several phone calls from guests staying in one of our Villas wondering what all the early morning shooting is about: who is shooting? Who are they shooting at? Why are they shooting? And should we hide somewhere?

Not to worry, we reassure everyone – it is just the start of the very long Italian hunting season that runs from the first Sunday in September through to the end of February (and beyond for the wild boar hunts and deer culling). Italy has one of the highest percentages of hunters with respect to its population and they really do shoot at everything, and often even at each other: Dick Cheney style.

The hunters are a huge political lobby in Italy, and while they are fairly strong on the national level, with the backing of such companies as Beretta, (with its factories producing endless streams of rifles, shotguns and handguns and employing several thousand workers), it is really at the local small town level that they decide who gets elected to the town councils.

The small Italian Communes have to take them into account as they can sway the vote one way or the other. They are general not politically aligned with left, center or right, but with whoever is willing to let them do what they love the most: hunt. And hunting in Italy means the right to carry arms of different kinds.

They are allowed to enter any property, scale walls, jump over fences, and are only held back from the areas that are specifically fenced off for the breeding of rare animals, or for hunting reserves. The reserves are usually included in the lands of large estates and hunters pay to shoot game there.

Hunters have to take a pretty detailed and lengthy course in the use of weapons, recognition of all the wild animal species, conservation and handling of outdoor emergency situations, but once they have their permit, they can practically do what they want. A hunter is allowed to carry shotguns or rifles, according to the game he is hunting, and many of them spend small fortunes in highly trained dog breeds and equipment.

A hunter is the only person allowed to purchase a rifle or sidearm and bullets legally in Italy, after presenting his license to the gun shop. Those who are not hunters and inherit guns, rifles, etc… either have to go to the shooting range (as I did when I inherited my grandfather’s shotguns and paraphernalia) and take a day-long safety course, or they have to turn their guns in to the local Carabinieri and have them sealed in such a way that they can no longer be used. And they need to be kept either in a locked showcase or on a rack, with a chain and lock that keeps them from being used by anyone (see photo attached).

The only kinds of weapons that can be displayed are those that are used for decoration and are not efficient (see the photo of the crest with the extractible double swords).

Italian hunters are divided into three basic groups, with occasional crossovers: the pheasant, grouse and jackrabbit hunters with dogs; the specialized hunters who only hunt wild boar and cull deer and related species; and the bird hunters.

I do not much care for the first and last categories as they are up and around at indecent hours on Sundays shooting up the countryside and killing most everything that moves (squirrels, porcupines, chickens and other domestic animals included).

The bird hunters usually spend the summer building blinds so that the birds won’t see them and they also keep all kinds of caged birds which they force to sing to attract other passing or migratory species to within shooting distance of their blinds. I find this kind of hunting particularly despicable.

The hunters who shoot pheasants and jackrabbits are a bit more tolerable, although it is a bit of a joke. Since most wild animals have been shot out of existence, each spring, the local hunting associations “seed” the hunting areas and woodlands with pairs of pheasants, quails and rabbits that are bred in pens for that purpose. So you can imagine how “wild” these poor things will be come September…

The only hunting that I, owning a farm, do approve of is the selective culling of the huge amounts of wild boars that run through the land and destroy vineyards and other cultivations, causing a lot of money loss to those who raise crops. The deer and the roebuck also fall into this category.

They were dwindling in numbers years ago, so hunting was suspended. Now they have reproduced to such an extent that the land doesn’t provide enough food for them and with the disappearance of the wolf, they have no natural enemies. They destroy the sapling olive trees, eat the grapes from the vines, and the vine shoots in springtime, and wreak havoc also in the woods, where they graze on anything green.

I think the major problem is that to become a hunter specialized in culling, you have to have more training and it is a game of incredible patience with long hours spent just lying on the cold humid ground somewhere waiting for the animals to show. Not many hunters are willing to go through this kind of sacrifice.

All in all, hunting in Italy is more of a way of life than a hobby. It is slowly dying out as the new generations, which are more ecologically aware, do not like it and do not see it as a sport. It is becoming ever less popular and this had led to some serious reductive legislation. Next season, for example, the Italian government voted to reduce the hunting season from end of September to end of January. This is a step in the right direction, but still not enough to save some of the migratory bird species that are being wiped out.

So, what we tell our worried guests here at Tuscan Enterprises and on the farm at Casamonti, is to go ahead and take your morning walk, but keep to the trails and dirt tracks, making noise or singing when possible, to avoid the “Cheney” effect. And, in all fairness, do remember, when you are eating those fantastic noodles with wild boar sauce, that someone had to procure that boar and it wasn’t by petting him on his nose.

PASSPORTS, INTERNATIONAL DRIVING LICENSES AND OTHER GOODIES

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0100

In answer to questions posed from citizens of different countries, I thought that Tuscan Enterprises should address the need or lack of need of documents for visiting Italy (you can pretty much extend this to all of Europe). For European citizens, the requirements for tourism-related travel are all regulated by the famous Schengen Treaty of 1985. I am attaching a condensed version from Wikipedia below:

The Schengen Area comprises the territories of twenty-five European countries that have implemented the eponymous agreement signed in the town of Schengen, Luxembourg, in 1985. The Schengen Area operates very much like a single state for international travel purposes with border controls for travelers travelling in and out of the area, but with no internal border controls.

The Schengen rules were absorbed into European Union law by the Amsterdam Treaty in 1999, although the area includes three non-member states: Iceland, Norway, and Switzerland. All EU members except Ireland and the United Kingdom are required to implement Schengen and—with the exceptions of Bulgaria, Cyprus, and Romania—have done so. The Area currently covers a population of over 400 million people and an area of 4,312,099 square kilometers (1,664,911 sq mi).

Implementing the Schengen rules involves eliminating border controls with other Schengen members while simultaneously strengthening border controls with non-member states. The rules include provisions on common policy on the temporary entry of persons (including the Schengen visa), the harmonization of external border controls, and cross-border police and judicial co-operation.

A passport or an EU approved national identity card should be brought anyway when travelling, since identity checks can be done at places like airports and hotels and by the police. This depends on national rules and varies between countries. Occasionally, regular border controls are used between Schengen countries.

The Schengen Area currently consists of twenty-five states. Before 2007 there were fifteen Schengen countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden. Of these Iceland and Norway are not EU members but negotiated agreements with the EU in order to participate. Ireland and the United Kingdom are the only EU member states that are neither full members of nor committed to join the Schengen Area, having negotiated an opt-out from the Schengen acquis in the Treaty of Amsterdam.

However, the United Kingdom opted into the provisions related to police and judicial cooperation a few years later. The situation in Ireland is different: while Ireland requested and received permission to participate in the Schengen acquis in 2002, they have, As of February 2010, opted not to implement that permission. In 2007, nine countries—the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia—that joined the EU three years previously joined the area.

Before joining the Schengen Area countries must upgrade their border controls with non-Schengen states so as to ensure the Area's integrity. Cyprus, which also joined the EU in 2004, did not meet the necessary criteria and thus has requested a delay for a year, while Romania and Bulgaria, which joined the EU in 2007, are still bringing their border controls up to the required standard. Schengen's newest member is Switzerland which joined the Area on 12 December 2008.

The situation is more complicated for citizens of non EU countries, such as the United States, Australia, Canada, etc. These tourists can stay in Italy for up to 90 days without need for a visa. For a stay of 90 days or longer, a visa is required, obtainable from an Italian consular office in your nation of origin.

Italian law also requires an international driver’s license obtainable from your local Automobile Club (AAA for example in the United States). You need to fill in an application, present two passport size photos and pay a minimal fee and you get the license. Some online services also offer this but they are more expensive. Citizens from China or Arab countries, some African States, and South American nations, all need visas to come to Italy (or Europe for that matter).

Last but not least, many people who travel have prescription medicines that they have to take with them. The best idea is to buy enough medications to last the holiday, and to make sure you get a written prescription from your doctor attesting that you must take these specific medications in case you are checked at an airport customs office. My own personal suggestion is that you make a list of the principal ingredients of any medication you take (for heart conditions or diabetes, etc..) so that if anything happens to your meds, you can always go to a pharmacy with the list and they will give you the Italian - or European – equivalency drugs in substitution for the ones you are out of.

These are all simple guidelines to follow, but once done, you can take your mind off these secondary concerns and allow yourself to enjoy your Tuscan Enterprises vacation in a Tuscan Villa or an Umbrian Farmhouse without a care in the world except what wine to put in your glass.

BEWARE THE DISCOUNT TRAPS. NOT ALL THAT GLITTERS IS GOLD.

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0100

After 29 consecutive years working as a Tour Operator renting Villas, Farmhouses and Residential complexes through our Tuscan Enterprises Travel Agency, I believe that I have seen practically all the discount gimmicks and ploys that have been invented by operators in this competitive holiday rental business. With the recession, boundless amounts of creativity have bloomed and flourished.

The first company ever to apply discounts was Cuendet, Located here in the Chianti Classico and for years the undisputed leader of all types of vacation rentals. Their approach was straightforward already some 25 years ago: if you booked your holiday accommodation before December 31st, you got a 5% discount on the price – be it a small apartment in a dingy old farm or a magnificent independent Villa. It was 5% and that was that.

For many years, this system drew return clients to the company and it also made sure it was the first one out on the market with its printed catalogues. Do remember that when we and the other “historical” Tour Operators started the Villa rental business, the most we had to work with were basic computers, phones and the first fax machines. Forget the internet and websites. Tons of multilingual catalogues were produced by each of us and we vied to see who came up with the most original design and cover each year.

Today the rental war is up and running and several tricks are being used by some of the big operators. They will offer you a 7 day holiday at the price of 6 days. This is the most absurd kind of false discount as it is simply a total ruse: what they are doing is taking the normal weekly price and applying it to the 6 days, making the 7th day appear as an extra. That 7th day is then used again when they switch to false discounts, where they will offer reduced rates ranging from 10% to 20% if you book by a certain date.

Here, one of two things are done: the first is to start with a higher base price quoted on the Villa you are going to discount (which means that you are selling it at its real price anyway); the second is that famous 7th day cost being presented again as a discount. Simple calculation: if a Villa’s real price is 6000 euros per week, and it is offered at 7000 euros instead, then each day is worth 1000 euros. If you get 6 days at the price of 7, you are paying 6000 euros and the full Villa price. If, instead, you are getting, say, a 10% discount, it accounts for 700 euros, and the agent is ahead by 300 euros on the discount accorded to you. Win-win for the agent and owner, right? But it does give you the impression you are getting a good deal.

Recently, a new false discount, but offered in a more refined way, has been to include a dinner or a lunch for your party when you book a certain Villa. Consider that a normal meal for 8 persons served to you will probably not cost more than 250 euros. Again, this is added to the weekly fee by owners and agents when prices are drawn up. Conclusion? You are paying for that meal anyway.

There are only a very few discounts that you can consider honestly legitimate:

1) The first is when you are booking 3 or more weeks in a Villa. By all means do ask if a discount is available. Generally, both owners and agents will reduce prices and commissions because 3 or 4 week bookings mean having a full house without the hassle of searching for different clients for the same end result. Owners especially love long bookings, as you can naturally imagine. In many cases they will even throw in the free meal or a pizza party made putting their wood-burning ovens to good use. Long-term bookers are highly cherished clients.

2) A second honest discount can be asked if you are effecting a last-minute booking on a Villa. Booking less than a month prior to arrival can be a good way to get the owners and agents to offer a discount as the accommodation will probably remain empty anyway. I personally don’t advise waiting to do your bookings at the last minute, especially if you have to find plane tickets and organize car rentals because you are going to be left with whatever nobody else wants. Your tickets may cost more instead of less, and you risk having to rent a minivan when all you need is a small car. In the end, what you save on the Villa rental will just go to pay the other costs. Not worth it to go for a second-choice holiday which is probably going to be fairly expensive anyway.

3) A third good reason to ask for a discount is if you are a return client to a specific Villa. Agents and owners are always pleased to have guests returning as it means that their offer was satisfying.

Beware of discounts shouted in large promotional messages from websites as they are just rusing you. If a Villa needs to be discounted by 20% already in January or February, it means that either the original price was too high, or it is just forlorn and empty for other reasons which should lead you to wonder about it. Discounts offered a month or so prior to an arrival date are fair game. This means agents and owners are doing their best to fill in periods that are still empty.

My personal advice about a few things you should do when booking your Villa holiday are:

1) Book your tickets early once you know your holiday dates and try to get the best price possible. You can choose the Villa after you have the tickets in hand.

2) Make sure you rent a car from one of the major car rental companies. Even if they cost more, they will provide immediate assistance and replacement cars. The obscure really cheap rental agents may leave you stranded for days on end. We have seen this too many times in recent years and it totally ruins your vacation.

3) Ask your agents/Tour Operators if they carry liability insurance that will cover you and yours during your holiday. For example, we at Tuscan Enterprises have total client coverage for anything that may happen to your family and party during your stay.

4) Another question to ask your agents is if they actually know the houses and Villas that they are suggesting to you. Hands on knowledge will save a lot of guesswork.

5) The final but fundamental distinguishing feature to look for in choosing your rental agency is to know how long they have been operating in the Villa rental business.

These are simple guidelines, but if you follow them, you will see how useful they are in helping you organize a really enjoyable holiday.

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM A WHITE TUSCANY IN THE SNOW

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Everyone associates Tuscany and the Chianti with summer, but we do have our winters here too. They are usually a lot milder than those many of our friends face in northern Europe or in some areas of the United States and Canada, but we do have snow and cold nonetheless.

These pictures are of the rather off-season and unusually copious snowstorm that covered most of Italy from coast to coast with snow during the better part of Friday night, December 18th. We normally have freezing cold weather right around Christmas time but it rarely snows, so this is a big event for the Chiantigiani.

The problem is that while the towns and provinces are fairly well organized to clean and salt up the major roads, all the backroad dirt tracks that make this area so dusty in summer and are part of its inherent charm, are left to their own devices. This means that either you move the snow using your farm tractor and machinery or you wait for it to melt on its own.

The Chiantigiani are all out happily playing in the snow and stocking up in the shops in case another blizzard comes, but when they have to go back and forth to town, out come 4-wheel drive SUV's and tractors and chains adding to the confusion that is part of the fun and excitement.

The town authorities and those who have to clear the roads spend half their time avoiding running into the variety of vehicles that are braving the snow and more time helping pull cars out of snowbanks. I think snow is best left to fall up in the Alps where people can ski on it and are prepared to deal with it properly.

In Chianti, we are warm people and I think we do best with our long summers and fine wines and a normal snowless Christmas season.

With all my heart, I wish everyone a great Christmas and a fantastic 2010, and a special thanks goes to those of you who keep writing to me.

Raymond

CONCIERGE SERVICE

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

In collaboration with a local tour operator, we are offering our guests a variety of services and activities aimed at making their stay in Italy more interesting. By working directly on location we can assure you dedicated and personalized assistance in planning your activities.

Transfer Service

Let us be your chauffeurs. Our bilingual drivers can pick you up at your arrival and bring you directly to your Villa, or take you to your appointments, dinners or sightseeing destinations so that you can relax and leave the driving to us.

Tours

The elegant Chianti Classico, the stark Nobile di Montepulciano and the sophisticated Brunello di Montalcino are the principal wines of Tuscany. Tour the cellars, taste and learn about the making of these wines directly from the producers while soaking in the magical landscapes. Limiting Tuscany to its wine areas would be a shame, so here are some ideas for different “off the beaten path” tours: San Galgano and the Val di Merse, the Val d’Elsa area, Pienza and Val d’Orcia, Cortona and Lake Trasimeno, Assisi and Perugia.
Are you continuing your holiday after your Tuscan stay? We can take you to Venice, Rome or wherever you are going on special transfer tours to make your trip more pleasant, and to fit in some beautiful sights that you would otherwise miss by train or bus.
Private City Guides
Our professional licensed guides will lead you through the beautiful, historic cities of Tuscany: Florence, Siena, Volterra, San Gimignano, Lucca and Pisa. Your guide will unravel the history and unveil the secrets and traditions of these glorious ancient city states. Walk along the narrow medieval streets, admire the intricate cathedrals, sit in the piazzas and soak in the atmosphere of the laid-back Tuscan life-style.

Countryside Excursions

Enjoy a walk through the countryside trails of Tuscany and its varied landscapes. Get in touch with the nature that Tuscans over the centuries have so proudly shaped into works of art. Cross woods, hills and rivers and reach some historical sites hidden to the ordinary visitor.
Tailor-made Day
Your input together with our expertise can create the ideal day which fulfills your specific or individual needs. This can include anything from “cities by night” to special transportation such as scooters, quads, horse and carriage to specific meals like fish, salami tastings or homemade cooking. We can also arrange to take you to the local festivities, events and seasonal activities that are currently available, such as truffle hunting, grape harvesting or the Palio of Siena.

Shopping

Do you want to be sure to make the right choices in buying traditional products such as wine, olive oil, a wonderful piece of ceramic, stylish Italian leather shoes or marble furnishings for your new home? Let us take you directly to the best shops, farms and producers and help ensure that you receive the best possible prices.
Spend a day dedicated to shopping in one of the numerous outlet villages of the area. Get the best Italian designer clothes at the cheapest prices.

Cooking

Prepare your own complete Italian meal. Learn to make the tasty dishes that are at the heart of Italian culture. Cook and have fun in the kitchen together with friends and family and bring back some interesting new ideas and recipes to impress your friends when you return home. Enjoy a cooking lesson conducted by a professional chef or held by a local Tuscan housewife in a fully equipped kitchen or in the comfort of your Villa.
If on the other hand you would like to have your meals (lunch and/or dinners) prepared and served for you in your Villa, you can hire your own personal in-house chef who will prepare a menu of your choice directly in your kitchen.

Other services

On request we can offer you many more services such as:

Weddings, theme dinners and cocktail parties
Activities for kids entertainment, babysitting and special outings
Massages
Horseback riding
Bike tours
Holiday planning support, bookings.

Just ask for our advice, We are here to help you make the most of your holiday in Italy.

WHY I LOVE AUTUMN IN TUSCANY

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Some of my friends ask me what I find so fascinating about autumn in Tuscany and especially in the Chianti Classico region. They are all lovers of hot Tuscan summers, while I prefer the calm serenity of the fall months.

I think it has to do with completion of so many different things tied to my life and to that of the Tuscan people in general. At the end of September/beginning of October, we harvest the grapes and so you can feel the anticipation of this fundamental aspect of our lives in the air around us. Everyone follows the weather patterns, worries about the sugar content of the grapes and prays that it doesn't rain. Then we harvest and everyone relaxes while the grape juice ferments in the cellars and turns into wine.

Next, with October comes the olive harvest, with the climate dominating when we can pick and when we have to just watch and wait. The olives need to be dry and the ground underneath them, where we lay the cloths and nets into which we comb the olives from the trees, also need to be nice and dry. This harvest is a slow and long one, protracting itself until end of November. All the excitement is based on how the quality is going to be and we only see this with the first pressing of the first batch of olives. Let it be said for the record that 2009 is a fantastic year for quality, but quantity is less than in 2008.

But the excitement doesn't end here by any means. Autumn brings the winding down of the tourist season, and those who you see visiting are all people who know exactly where they are going and why they are here: be it to follow one of the harvests, or to taste the foods, or to visit the quiet museums and historic cities. It is a time for meditation and peaceful travel.

I always tell my friends who have been here in summer to come in autumn at least once to taste the fresh wild boar dishes, the truffles and the new extravirgin olive oil just as it is at the peak of its fragrance. All it takes is a slice of bread and a dribble of oil on it and this is one of nature's pure delights. Or cook a plate of tagliatelle, slather in butter and slice up white truffle on top. Heaven in your mouth. If you like wines, now the "new" or "Novello" fresh wines are already hitting the markets and some are truly magnificent.

And what about all the chestnuts served in a variety of ways? This is also their season to be enjoyed. So, here I sit eating a bruschetta with my fresh olive oil, a slice of cinta senese prosciutto in hand, and a glass of Novello wine in front of me. And you want to know why I like autumn in Tuscany?

GRAPE HARVESTING IN THE CHIANTI CLASSICO

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0200

I think a lot of people have a romantic idea of what picking grapes is all about. Basically, it is just a lot of back-breaking work and rather monotonous at that. Yesterday, I was sitting outside my office here in Castellina in Chianti and I saw two young college kids limping slowly by as if they had been beaten up in a street fight. I know one of them so I asked what the problem was and what happened to them. He grimaced and said that they have been harvesting grapes all week at an estate that belongs to a friend of mine.

Nothing else needed to be said because I knew exactly how they felt. The basic fascination with grape harvesting usually lasts all of half a day, and then there you are, equipped either with a small scythe-like and very sharp knife, or with pruning scissors and a nice plastic basket, and you start to wonder why anyone plants vines so that the grapes are in such a wrong place that you have to bend over but not really enough for it not to hurt in order to pick them.

It is amazing how grapes are not high enough so you can pick while standing up or low enough so you can actually bend way down – no, they are placed in a sadistic position so you have to sort of scrounge down and bend in a weird way to pick them.

Add to this that it is hot in the vineyards because the dirt reflects the sunlight and so you tend to take your shirt and then your T-shirt off and by the end of the day you are a nice boiled lobster tonality. So there were the two kids, sunburned and bent over like old men and only happy that it was Friday and my friend won’t start harvesting again until Monday.

I think everyone should participate for at least one day in a grape harvest. It really teaches a life lesson and, after that experience, you will never again ask why a wine costs so much. There are tears and blood in every bottle.

UFO SIGHTINGS THROUGHOUT ITALY

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0200

Unusual, because many people just do not pay any kind of attention to UFO's or strange sightings in the sky, but there have been a series of articles and news feeds saying that Italy has had a peak of declared UFO sightings this summer.

Apparently, sightings have been more intense in southern Italy, but the phenomenon has extended to a lot of countries in Europe and while a lot of the causes have been ascribed to gas weather balloons and planetary movements, a good percentage of them has no explanation.

Two nights ago, I was outside putting the dogs to sleep at Casamonti, and I looked up and saw the full moon as you can see in the picture and this bluish dot of light that kept moving back and forth across the sky very very quickly. I went in and grabbed my Iphone and took a picture of it.

Be it what it may, it is still pretty strange. I have never seen any light moving so fast back and forth before.

Hey, maybe the aliens have decided to come fix our economic situation?

THE HIGH COSTS OF ENERGY

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 00:00:00 +0200

I had an interesting exchange of messages with a cousin of mine who lives in upstate New York and with a couple of American clients regarding energy and fuel-related issues and comparisons between costs in the United States and here in Europe. Diesel fuel currently runs 1,34 Euros per liter in Italy against the $2.53 a gallon in the US (this means we are currently paying $6.50 a gallon).

A lot of our guests are taken aback by the high costs we have for fuels in Europe. This basically is about the same in most of the European countries because we do not have any significant crude oil production (and the British offshore drilling doesn’t even cover their own consumption needs).

This is why we generally have smaller cars in Europe and have been doing so much research in reducing car fuel consumption – but the initial direction was aimed at reducing car weights, resulting in faster, lighter cars. Now real research is underway to find alternatives in better propane and methane gas cars, hydrogen cars, and mixed fuel cell cars combining gasoline engines and batteries.

The main problem is setting up refueling distribution pumps for the alternative fuel sources. And the European governments rely heavily on the high tax revenues they get from the petrol pumps.

Another hard hit commodity in most of Europe is electricity. Some countries have nuclear plants, like France, so their own internal production cuts down their costs, but other countries, like Italy, actually voted in a referendum nearly 20 years ago not to have any nuclear plants on Italian soil. The result is that we import more than half of our electricity from the nuclear plants of our neighbors. The current government has decided to go against popular feeling and is planning the construction of several nuclear plants in the coming decade.

These high costs are one of the reasons that we generally do not use air conditioning over here. You will find that it is not in the European culture. You see, we build our houses primarily out of stone and bricks with really thick walls - At Casamonti, where I live, we have walls that are almost 3 feet thick and even more in some places. Stone is a bad heat conductor, so the outside of our houses, like you find in Spain and in the Haciendas in Mexico, heat up on the outside, but with all window shutters closed and only the inside windows open, we create a breeze inside the houses that keeps them cool. We also have a pretty strong degree of heat excursion during the day.

You will find that only the recently built or restored houses have air conditioning systems. To tear up a stone villa to put in air conditioning systems not only costs a small fortune, but it has to be done following a series of guidelines laid down by the local authorities and a project needs to be drawn up and approved by the town building authorities. This is quite a complicated operation.

Another pretty high expense we have is gas for cooking and heating. Generally, while up till 10 years ago many houses (even inside the cities) ran on diesel fuel, today the cities all have methane gas lines, and the farmhouses and villas in the countryside usually have large underground propane gas tanks.

Most of our gas comes in from Libya across the Mediterranean undersea pipeline and from Russia, through the pipeline that runs through the Ukraine. We get our petroleum almost exclusively from the Arab countries. Italy has a relatively modest electric production from hydroelectric dams, some coal-burning electric plants, some geothermic tapping, and a lot of development is going on in the eolic system. A campaign is being run to convince people to put in photovoltaic systems on the roofs of their houses, but the efficiency still leaves a lot of doubt and, quite frankly, Italians prefer their cotto tiled roofs to sheets of shimmering silicon.

So that leaves us where we started: high heating and electric bills, expensive gasoline and diesel car fuels, and a lot of fans and ceiling ventilators, but not much air-conditioning.

TELEPASS PROBLEMS ON THE AUTOSTRADA

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 00:00:00 +0200

Message received from Mr Franz Hammert:

Last week we had the experience of driving on the Autostrada with a rental car and entering the cash payment toll booth which was unfortunately unmanned and we do not speak Italian. We drove from Occieobello to Roma but were charged the maximum of E55, since the automatic toll machine did not read the ticket correctly. After being imprisoned in the payment lane with 100 degree temperatures, the screen told us to pay E55 and our protesting in english into a microphone, holding up angry drivers blowing horns, a "Telepass" receipt flew out and said we have to mail in E55. We are in the US now and I have emailed autostrada, requesting a correct amount but still have not heard from them. People should avoid these unamanned booths like the plague, if possible, but it is sometimes hard to see if they are manned.

Ray’s answer:

Unfortunately, it happens to a lot of people because there are no explanations given when you go to get onto the autostrada. Most of them are now unmanned, so you have to pick up the slip, the bar raises up and allows you to enter the autostrada, and then my suggestion to people is not to pay at the credit card or Viacard machines, but to pay the tollbooth man if he is present (usually entails a longer line but it is worth it because you can resolve a problem immediately with him if it arises, while the machine only spits out a note telling you to pay).

Do you still have the original ticket issued by the machine (I mean the first one when you got onto the Autostrada, not the one that the Telepass machine tossed out to you)? I have a feeling that you may have gone through the wrong lane. There are usually three types of exit lanes. One is manned and you pay cash. The second has a sign above it with VIACARD (and usually some credit card symbols also) and here you put your ticket into the machine, it reads it and then the amount appears on a screen and you insert your prepaid Viacard or your credit card and it debits it automatically. The third lane instead is the Telepass lane - this is only for customary Autostrada drivers who have a small box mounted in their cars or trucks and you enter the Autostrada through the Telepass entrance without having to stop to get a ticket, and you exit it again through the Telepass lane without stopping. It is the machine in your car that reads where you entered and then gives this information to the machine at the exit. Then you are simply billed monthly.

If what you did was to get an entrance ticket, but you exited through the Telepass fastlane the reason you were issued a payment slip for 55 euros is that they assumed you got onto the Autostrada through the Telepass and exited through the Telepass and they are charging you the maximum distance that you can drive on that specific stretch of Autostrada. Same thing happens if you lose your ticket. They can't determine where you got onto the Autostrada so they charge you for the full distances. Crappy system. If you still have your entrance ticket, then that is what you want to scan and then email to the Autostrada people. It shows where you got onto the highway.

I hope this helps.

Ray

TIPPING THROUGH TUSCANY

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0200

First of all let me start by saying that tipping is something that you face in many different forms. It runs from what you tip a waiter in a restaurant to how much do you give the busboy that carries your luggage to your room, to how you should compensate the really nice cleaning lady who kept your house in order during your holiday. I think two basic things worry the people who have contacted me about tipping: how much and when.

The how much is fairly simpler than the when, I have to say. Let’s address a few of the tipping situations you are likely to run into: taxi drivers in Italy don’t absolutely expect a tip, but are pleased to receive one – there is no obligation to tip them as they are paid according to the meter reading. If you are paying an amount with a few extra Euros in change, just leave them the change.

The busboy at the hotel should not only carry your luggage up to your room, but also show you any details that might be useful, such as where the minibar is, or what to click on the TV for it to operate properly, and where the room service menu for ordering is kept, and, last but not least, show you how to open and close curtains if they are present in the room. The more he helps, the higher the tip, but do not give more than between 5 and 10 Euros, unless you expect to have further dealings with the person and will be asking for additional services such as booking a restaurant or a theatre event or calling a taxi. This will most often occur in smaller hotels, where the receptionist and doorman and busboy are the same person all rolled into one.

Tipping in restaurants is absolutely not required. If you look at your check in any Italian restaurant you will often see a voice on it called “coperto” with a relative amount that usually runs between 1 and 5 Euros per person. This is an ancient tradition that most modern restaurants have agreed to drop in the course of the years, although some still charge it automatically – it is a cover charge that is supposed to pay for your table setting and the bread.

It dates back to when a lot of taverns were open to anyone who wanted to go in, sit down and order drinks, while eating their own food. It served to pay for “occupied space” in the “osteria” (which roughly translates into a place with a host) and the host - “Oste” in Italian - would try to sell you his food, but if you at least bought drink from him, then the cover charge took care of the table setting you were occupying. Do not tip any restaurant that puts a cover charge on your bill.

You can tip the waiter if he was especially nice and the food satisfied you and was handled properly. But you should never tip the owner of the restaurant, because the idea is that you are his guest, and albeit you are a paying guest, you are still being hosted by him or her. Any tip should be given to the waiter or, if you have paid in cash, and some cash is returned, just leave it there for the waiter to pick up once you leave.

Maids and cleaning ladies. In renting a Villa, you will come into contact with either the owner or the caretaker and the maid who comes in and cleans up during your stay. In many cases you are charged a fixed weekly maid service fee and the maid comes by two or three times per week for a few hours to keep the place tidy. Usually this fee is paid directly to the owner or to the caretaker. In many cases it is the caretaker who also does the cleaning. I always say that it is important to understand who the actual person doing the cleaning is, and I always suggest giving that person at least 10 Euros in tip BEFORE any cleaning begins.

The reason is that you are stimulating the person to go the extra bit for you and clean better and with more diligence in the hope of getting another tip at the end of your stay. If it works, then by all means do give the person a second more substantial tip at the end of your stay, but if it produces no results, then you’ve only wasted 10 Euros anyway…

Another person who you can decide to tip or not to tip is the chef, cook or caterer who you have booked to come to the Villa and prepare a meal for you. You are being charged for the meal and its associated services, but if you are going to have that service more than once, a tip is a good idea as it fits into the same principle as tipping the maid ahead of time.

There really is no one else you need to tip, although a nice gesture on your part once you return home, if you were pleased with your holiday arrangements and want to say so, is to write an email to the tour operator or travel agent that organized your trip with you to say that you enjoyed it and have them pass on your comments to the owners, caretakers and any others who helped make your holiday memorable. This is also a nice tip.

WHO WANTS PIZZA?

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0200

I think that pizza is one of those particular categories of food that fits comfortably between a serious meal and street food. What is interesting is the story of its origins going way back in time, and the modifications and developments that have brought it to the present day in all its combinations and variations.

First of all, pizza was invented in Naples and not by the people of Pizza Hut. Originally it was street food and consisted of a piece of rounded and flattened dough that was fried in hot oil and served with a piece of thick paper that absorbed the excess grease. Don’t be surprised, because in Naples, spaghetti, originally called maccheroni, was also served as street food with or without tomato sauce in paper cones, much like fish and chips were served in England and both date back to the same timeframe.

Eventually, pizza was taken over by the bakeries and a new version was proposed that was more like a “focaccia” – same base as pizza, and rather thick but baked and with olive oil and a bit of salt and oregano sprinkled on top. Gradually, all kinds of toppings were added, and pizza actually hit its high point when a pizzeria in Naples produced a special version reflecting the Italian flag with the red of the tomato, the white of the mozzarella cheese and the green of fresh basil on it and dedicated it to Queen Margherita. The margherita is the most basic of pizzas but it too has certain criteria in its production. The true pizza is made with simple mozzarella cheese and not with buffalo mozzarella, which is too strong in taste and kills the other aromas and the basil is added fresh to the cooked pizza to allow the heat to wilt it.

The other toppings now range in the several hundreds, with some that are really rather wild and disgusting. Sorry, but a pizza with peanut butter and pineapple is just not my ideal, although a friend of mine swears by it. Another major difference in pizza philosophy here in Italy depends on geographic locations. Pizzas in the north and center of Italy tend to be larger but much thinner and cooked in a hotter oven for a shorter time than pizzas in southern Italy, where the preference is for a thicker product.

A lot of things have also changed in what was the traditional consumption of pizza in Italy, probably as a result of globalization, with a strong Italo-American contribution playing a role in this.

Pizza was traditionally considered a full meal and consumed with coke or with a beer on Friday or Saturday nights by Italian families and by the younger generations before going to the discos. During the rest of the week, it was mostly ignored until someone came up with the idea of the “pizza al taglio” – which is a variation on the standard pizza format and produced in street side pizzerias that make several large rectangular pizzas with different condiments and you can walk in off the street and buy a square of pizza (a cut slice, hence “taglio” in Italian) and you generally have this as a snack or as lunch.

Pizzerias used to only open up at night and there was a severe dichotomy between restaurants with menus and pizza places. Then, gradually, the two converged and many restaurants also have a pizza section that caters to a younger crowd and to hungry families. But it has only been in the past few years that pizza has started being served by restaurants and pizzerias at lunchtime, and this has also lead to the development of the takeaway pizza or pizza that you can order from home. I realize that any American reading this will feel disbelief, but it is totally true: Americans have had takeaway pizza and home delivery of pizza and Chinese food for many years, while in Italy it is a rather recent phenomenon.

It is probably a positive development to have pizza available at any chosen time, but for a traditional Italian, some of the mystique has been lost.

SO WHAT MAKES IT SUMMER FOR THE CHIANTIGIANI?

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:00:00 +0200

Ahh, summer in Tuscany. So what is it really all about for the Chiantigiani who live here year-round? What makes it summer for us and what brings it to mind? Well, I think that if you ask anyone here, they will automatically point to the vineyards and olive orchards that seem to lay a pattern over the Chianti countryside next to the carefully tended patches of woodlands and the red-tiled roofs of the farmhouses.

But this is the answer they would give to any tourist asking the question superficially about what summer is in Chianti. What really depicts it for all of us who live here are the fierce yellows of the broom that suddenly pop out from the darker greens of the hills and roadsides, the cypress-tree lined dirt tracks that lead to the houses, hidden among oak trees and stone walls, the rosemary bushes, the perfumed sage, the flowering lavenders with their heady aroma, and, last but not least, the occasional flowering Oleander bushes that are not native but present everywhere anyway. This is true summer in Tuscany for us.

It is hot, with temperatures around 30°-35°, but with light winds that cool off the houses in the evenings. It is a period when farm work is primarily dedicated to the vineyards and in the wine cellars to prepare for the September harvests, and it is a month of tension for fear of hailstorms. Everyone waits for that one sudden rainstorm that comes after the 15th of August and washes away the dust that has settled on trees and bushes and everything in sight and is the harbinger of the autumn about to begin.

But, one curious thing that many don’t know is that the strange trees with leafy branches that you always find near the houses, and that are full of rather tasteless berries that fall to the ground in June, once provided an important staple of income for the farm families. The trees originally come from Asia and are called Gelsi (mulberry trees) – and they were brought by monks when in the late Dark Ages/early Middle Ages, the silkworm was introduced to our lands.

It was the farm women who used to set up rooms in the farmhouses and introduce the cut branches from the Gelsi on special racks to feed the caterpillars that would eventually spin their cocoons out of pure silk. Then the women would gather them and sell them to wandering collectors called “Trecconi” who would range far and wide across the land picking up the silk “bozzoli” and paying the women for them according to quality and weight.

Next, the cocoons would be brought to one of the laboratories in Florence and Siena and thrown into boiling water to kill the caterpillars, and the silk would be spun off of the cocoons and several threads wound together to produce the raw silk that was used to make all kinds of items. It is probably a legend, but it is said that San Gimignano, which used to be the textile capital of Tuscany, actually even sold some silk in later years back to the Chinese.

Silkworm farming held out until the late 1950’s, until advanced industrial productions were devised and we were just left with the Gelsi trees, that for the Chiantigiani so well express summertime.

ALL YOU REALLY NEED TO KNOW ABOUT WINES

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:00:00 +0200

I have received a few emails asking me opinions on wines and on which are my favorites and what I look for in a wine. What strikes me is that people generally have two major attitudes when they address wines: either they are curious and want to know more about wines, or they are afraid to express their opinions (and most of these have friends who they consider to be real wine-buffs and experts on all matters wine-related).

I think that we should first of all clear the table from misconceptions: there are very few true wine experts in the world, and these are the products of continuous training and the benefit of natural palates that seem designed for wine tasting. I remember when I worked doing Public Relations for the Chianti Classico Wine Consortium, that I met many people who were in the wine business: some were true wine connoisseurs and primarily made a living from wines – I remember several wine book authors, some journalists, some sommeliers, and a few British wine masters, who really knew what they were talking about and it was a fascinating experience to learn from them.

But, you know, all of them did agree on a few basic things: a) you cannot be a world-expert on wines because there are too many of them and each season the new harvests produce new wines that are different from the ones of the years before, so keeping up is practically impossible, b) you can specialize in wines from a country or from a region, but to do this professionally you need to take serious wine-tasting courses, c) if you like wines, then drink what you like – taste as much as you can, and decide for yourself.

I totally agree with these few precepts. I think the true basis of wine drinking is to go with the wines you like. A wine should look good to you when you pour it into your glass: if it is has strange or murky color, then toss it out. It should smell like fruit, vegetables, flowers or other pleasant and positive aromas: if it smells funny or, especially, like cork or wood shavings, again, just toss it out. Taste it and it should be pleasant in your mouth: this is more subjective because we all have personal preferences and what you eat in combination with the wine you are drinking makes a big difference in how that wine will taste. If you taste it and it doesn’t convince you, then drop it from your list. If you like, it, write down the label and vintage so you can reorder it next time you shop for wines.

There are a few things that you should know about wines that are primarily dictated by common sense. The first is that you need to keep wines lying on their sides and not standing up. This is so that the cork remains moist. If the cork dries out, it will let air into the bottle and the wine will oxidize and turn murky. Today a lot of wineries are using silicon corks that may not be as romantic as the true wood corks are, but are totally efficient in preserving your wine in its bottle. Do not keep wines in warm places as this will cause secondary fermentations inside the bottle and the wines will taste bad.

Chill white wines and rosé wines, but do not chill red wines. You normally open a white wine or a rosé just before serving, while red wines can usually benefit from being opened an hour or so prior to serving – and older wines should be either opened a few hours in advance or, if possible, decanted so they can breathe and release their pent-up aromas to give you the full benefit of their bouquets.

Ask for advice when presenting a wine with a certain type of food – some foods go well with fresh young wines, while others need older and more seasoned wines (typical example is the Tuscan T-bone steak – the famous Bistecca alla Fiorentina – that is cooked on hot coals and should be served with an aged Chianti Classico Riserva or a full-bodied Nobile di Montepulciano or a brilliant Brunello di Montalcino). You would not serve this grilled wonder with a light white wine.

Many cookbooks can give you advice on what wines go best with what foods and even your local wine shop may be able to give you some pointers. I always advise people to try combinations privately before presenting them to guests. There are also some foods that are practically impossible to combine with wines - artichokes, chocolates (and from my own experience, peanut butter sandwiches) are among them.

As far as my own personal preferences in wines are concerned, to answer those who have written me, I like fresh young wines. I am not a lover of very aged, old wines. To me a fresh young IGT Tuscan wine like the one we produce at Casamonti called “L’Elogio di Casamonti”, or a bottle of nicely chilled white wine (a Trebbiano or a Pinot) or a rosé, with appetizers or a plate of pasta is total bliss.

A Chianti Classico or a Chianti Classico Riserva or even a Nobile di Montepulciano or a Carmignano are fine with second courses. But I do want a Riserva or a Brunello with my Fiorentina steak. I do not like Super Tuscans very much because they tend to have been kept a long time in oak barriques in order to give them the huge amounts of tannins and wood flavor that people like so much. I don’t like to taste a wine and have my mouth pucker up as if I had just bit on a slice of lemon. I am also a fan of beer and coke and mineral water with gas.

In the events section, the blog dedicated to Museums, Music and general events also lists the website addresses of the major wine consortiums in Tuscany so you can go to see what they have to say and their official classification of the last vintages. When visiting any of the wine regions in the world, if you can find a well-organised wine tasting tour being offered, take it as it will do more to teach you about that area's wines than you can ever learn from books or from your own tastings at home.

MUSEUMS, MUSIC, GENERAL EVENTS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 00:00:00 +0200

When you are planning to travel to Italy, one suggestion I have is that you check what is going on during your holiday. There are always special exhibitions in museums, fairs, concerts (not only classical music, but jazz, opera, rock), and in many cases the smaller towns also offer their own small public events that can be really interesting and give you a taste of what Italy and Italians are all about. I am limiting the list to some of the major links you can click on that are printed in different languages so you can choose at will.

One of the attractions is the Palio di Siena horse race that is held twice a year on July 2nd and on August 16th. It involves the whole city and is much more than a horse race with a lot of choreography and involvement of the citizens of Siena. More about it is at: Official Palio website.

The most important museum in Siena is the reconverted hospital/hospice that used to be a major refuge of pilgrims walking along the Via Francigena on to Rome. Santa Maria della Scala started as a religious hospital, then it was transformed into other uses, then in modern times it became the central Siennese hospital, until the large Polyclinic was built, and it was returned again to its original splendour as one of the best preserved museums and exhibition places of Tuscany. Here is its link: Santa Maria della Scala.

Another really interesting Siennese museum is the Museo di Storia Naturale: Accademia dei Fisiocritici.

This is the general site relative to all the museums and initiatives in Siena: Musei Senesi.

This is the general site relative to all the museums and initiatives in Florence, including ticketing office so you can also book your visit to the Uffizi Gallery without having to wait in line for hours: Musei Fiorentini.

Music, what would we do without it? – here are references to the Siennese Accademia Chigiana and to the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and the jazz festivals: Accademia Chigiana - Siena Jazz Festival - Florentine May Music Festival - Florentine Music Event ticketing office - Music Events in Lucca - Jazz in Pistoia.

Mmmmm, Wine – here are the websites of the major wine Consortiums of Tuscany with information about wine tastings, tours and useful maps of their protected denominations of origin (DOCG): Vino Nobile di Montepulciano - Brunello di Montalcino - Consorzio Chianti Classico - Vernaccia di San Gimignano.

Two more interesting wine events are both related to the 10th of August, when the night of the falling stars (Notte di San Lorenzo) takes place, and the sky is lit up with small particles of a comet that cross through the skies and burn up in the high atmosphere: the first is a visit to the ancient train station with its antique trains and a wine tasting is held there: Wine Station tastings. Another unique initiative is the wine tasting held under the open sky on the night of San Lorenzo and that involves more than 150 Italian wine cities: Calici di Stelle.

For the shopping mall maniacs among you, here are the website addresses of two of the better organized outlets that at least have high standard, good quality merchandise: The Barberino Outlet and The Valdichiana Outlet.

I will add additional events and links as they come to mind, so you may want to check this section regularly to find out the latest things happening. The purpose is to give you a general reference guide.

Another thing you don't want to miss is a visit to the weekly markets held in all the towns and cities of Italy. The pictures that I have attached to this blog page are of a wine tasting held at my Casamonti wine Estate, of a stand run by a friend of ours who produces his own organic Tuscan Pecorino cheese (sheep's milk cheese) Cheese shop, and of our Cinta Senese stand in an outdoor exhibition held at Sant'Appiano (wine estate that belongs to a friend of ours who makes fantastic wines and just inaugurated his new wine cellar).

EATING AND DRINKING IN ITALY

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 00:00:00 +0200

The different regions of Italy offer an incredible variety of dishes. Italy was once a series of city-states that later developed into regions with their own very distinctive cooking traditions.

Tuscan cooking is fairly simple. It is based very fresh products, on mixed grills of meat and poultry, excellent pasta dishes and not very clever desserts. The best known Tuscan meat is the large T-bone steak carved from the large white Chianina ox. It is called "Bistecca alla Fiorentina", and is wonderful. This large steak is cooked quickly on an open grill and needs to be crunchy on the outside and bloody on the inside. Shy from it if you like your meat well-done. The taste is ruined by too much cooking.

Pasta dishes based on wild boar, porcini mushrooms and truffles are fantastic. These are common to both Tuscany and Umbria. Be advised, however, that wild boar hunting season is from November to February. This means that a plate of pasta with wild boar sauce in August has to be made from a frozen piece of meat. Mushrooms are in abundance from September to November. Truffles are available in late October, November and early December. In other seasons, the truffles you get come out of jars.

Both Tuscany and Umbria are famous for their pork products: prosciutto, salamis of all kinds, the famous "Finocchiona" that is made with fennel seeds, capocollo, etc. The top of top are products from the Cinta Senese pigs. I have written another blog dedicated entirely to these wonderful animal.

These appetizers are usually served at the beginning of a meal and are called "antipasti". Another two well-known appetizers are "Crostini" and the two basic versions are slices of Tuscan bread with a delightful liver patè, or the "Fettunta" - basically, a roasted slice of bread, rubbed with garlic and slathered in fresh extra virgin olive oil. In summer, diced up tomato and basil are added to it.

Wines in Tuscany are excellent and incredibly varied, running from a normal Chianti to a finer Chianti Classico, to a noble Montepulciano or a Carmignano to the king of wines, the Brunello di Montalcino. They are not cheap, but they are wonderful. Wines and extra virgin first press olive oil are the main products of the region.

Umbrian wines are fewer and often heavier, with a few delightful exceptions. They are all less famous, but this is due to change in the course of time.

Taste everything - go for it - it is all a good experience for you. I will be dedicating two separate blogs to wines and to olive oil to help clear the situation for you from all the complications and fears created by wine buffs.

My personal philosophy, after working for 5 years (when I was a young guy who knew nothing about wines) for the Chianti Classico Wine Consortium, is that if you like a wine, then drink it. If it tastes or looks funny or smells strange, toss it out. This advice was given to me by one of the master wine tasters who sat on the tasting panel of the Consortium for more than 20 years. He could smell a wine and tell you from what area of the Chianti Classico region it came from, and often enough, the name of the producer. So just drink what you like.

QUICK REFERENCE TO DRIVING IN ITALY

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 00:00:00 +0200

I have received several questions relative to driving in Italy asking for suggestions and what to watch out for, so I am going to put a blog in the TRAVEL ADVICE section addressing traffic issues in general and the particularly interesting points raised by George from Australia and by Elisabeth from California.

DRIVING IN ITALY

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 00:00:00 +0200

Driving in Italy or in any of the European countries is not the terrifying experience some people think it is. With the developing of the Common Market, for example, a license that is valid in one country is valid in all the EEC countries and, theoretically, the road signs and symbols are supposed to be the same in each country. I write theoretically, because the written parts are usually in each country’s language and this can cause confusion when you are facing some unfamiliar symbol with writing underneath it. For drivers coming from non-EEC countries, an international driver’s permit, or in some cases, a multi-lingual translation of the license is necessary. These you usually obtain from the Automobile Clubs of your native country.

Italian roads are basically divided into three types: the large 4 to 6 lane highways, which are called autostrade and are all Toll roads; the smaller 2 to 4 lane superstrade, which generally connect internal cities within regions and are toll-free; and then the normal, larger or smaller, better or worse kept, two lane provincial or town roads (the upkeep here depends on how much money each province has to spend), and these are also always toll-free.

Driving inside our cities is not any different from driving in cities in other countries: traffic is traffic and you need to be careful. The only advice I want to give you is to follow the bullseye symbol with “Centro” written on it as it will lead you to the center of the town or city, where there are usually parking areas and also tourist information booths available to help you out. 90% of public parking areas charge by the hour.

What you need to be wary of are the various radar traps and other contraptions devised to catch you if you are speeding and that will inevitably issue fines and tickets that will be sent to you automatically. Believe me when I assure you that they will catch up with you sooner or later and no matter where you live. Computers, international police internet systems and globalization have taken care of this rather well.

Here are some pointers. In Italy you need to drive with your seatbelts fastened at all times and children need to be in the back seats and babies in proper baby seats in the back also. In Italy, you need to keep your headlights on even during the day on all Autostrade and Superstrade and on the longer Provincial roads (they are marked by signs with SS(and a number). For example, the back road connecting Florence and Siena is called SS222 Chiantigiana. You only need to keep your parking lights on in the cities and towns.

And, last but not least, do be careful not to enter areas which have indications that you need a permit to go through them or that have a sign showing a pedestrian-only area. Until a few years ago, these areas of the cities and towns actually had a “vigile” (traffic warden), stationed in front of them and he would stop you before you made the error of entering an off-limits area. Now there is only a sign posted, and if you enter without a permit, cameras throughout the area take pictures of your car and license plate and then you receive the fine or fines a few months later. There is no appeal to these citations. A client of ours last year thought that nobody would notice her driving the 200 meters through a corner of pedestrian zone in Siena twice a day. She was very surprised to receive a 2.000,00 euro ($ 2,900.00) fine at her home in Connecticut 6 months after her holiday.

The speed traps are really pernicious: there are basically 4 kinds and you need to watch for them carefully. The first and easiest to spot is a large rectangular box on the side of the provincial and superstrada roads: it contains a speed sensor and a camera and if you are speeding, it will photograph your rear license plate and the fine will be sent to you. The second kind is the manned radar trap where traffic police set up the machine and if you are speeding, again, photo is taken of your license plate and fine sent. The third kind is rather malicious because it is attached to the stoplights in some of the busiest areas in the cities and it will photograph you if you are speeding up to pass through an orange light before it turns red. Again, fine sent home.

But the most ingenious device that currently is boosting the Italian government’s income is a thing called a TUTOR. This is a camera system mounted on the autostrade and it takes a photograph of cars as they go by in one particular spot of the road, and then takes a second photograph of cars as they go past a second point many kms later. It then calculates the time it took each car to go from point A to point B and extrapolates the speed of each car. If it determines that a car was driving above the speed limit, a really hefty fine is sent to your home, and as these are usually high speed violations, agreements between various countries make it so that a notification will be sent to your closest traffic warden’s office so they may decide to take away points from your driver’s license, or even take it away from you. These are the most difficult traps to avoid.

On another note, a few things I would like to suggest are that you avoid purchasing the VIACARD that is so promoted in the airports when you go to pick up your rental car. Basically, it is a credit card that you can use to pay the toll booths on the autostrade with and so avoid queuing. The problem is that they are sold with set amounts in them and if you buy one for 50 euros, but only use half that amount on the autostrade, the rest of the money you spent in the card is wasted. Do remember that you can pay the autostrade toll-booths with credit cards – easier and hassle-free.

My second suggestion is that you book your rental car early when you are planning your holiday and try to get the best deal possible – late bookings are always costlier. I also advise you to rent from one of the major companies such as Herts, Avis or Europcar because we have seen too many people enticed by an offer from some obscure rental car company, having to rent a second car because of a breakdown while the original rental company took days before coming to pick up the damaged vehicle. The large companies generally manage to resolve any problem in less than a day.

But, above all else, drive carefully. Remember that you are not rushing to get to work on time. You are on a holiday and the countryside is really worth enjoying while driving at a leisurely pace.

HOW REALLY IMPORTANT ARE DISTANCES IN TUSCANY?

Sat, 30 May 2009 00:00:00 +0200

I often receive messages from guests who ask to have a villa "within easy access" to Florence or to Siena. The last person I wrote to is Effie, so I want to thank her for bringing up the topic.

Tuscany is one of the best known of Italian holiday destinations and has been on everyone's favorites list for many many years now. I think one of the most important things for travellers to consider is size and distance. Most guests write stating that they want to be close to Florence or to Siena without realizing that the entire Chianti Classico region between Siena and Florence is connected by a highway that is 85 kms long, which is around 52 US miles, so being closer to one or to the other of these cities makes very little difference.

This means that it takes one hour from the outskirts of one city to those of the other. The Superstrada that connects the two major historical cities of Tuscany also has a series of really comfortable exits that will allow you to go visit the heartland of the Chianti Classico Region. Sometimes I speak with guests who are totally amazed by how small the Region really is. And when they go visit the Brunello di Montalcino area and see that it is half the size of the Chianti Classico, they are totally dumbstruck.

The region is dedicated to two major crops: grapes and olives. And you see this in all the expressions of the countryside, with soft hills laid out with symmetrical rows of vineyards, and nicely spaced olive trees in carefully planted groves. And near them are the farmhouses, villas, and complexes where you can spend your holidays, sipping the local wines and enjoying a natural holiday.

Winemaking is a lot of work and takes dedication and a lot of faith in nature and its quirks. This year, for example, the rain ended late and the summer heat exploded over the space of a week's time with the result of an explosive vegetative growth of the vines, and all the workers are bending the long branches back and treating the leaves against mold and mildew. At the same time, the olive trees had just started to flower and the heat wave has damaged a lot of areas, not allowing a good pollination of the olives. This means reduced amounts of oil in certain hotter areas.

Back to distances: I always ask guests when they plan on coming and if they have children with them. The reason is that if you come in the low and midseason months, from March to May and from September to November, you can go visit the cities without overbearing crowds pushing you around, and it is a wonderful period to drive around and also to visit the small towns that have made Tuscany so famous. Some historical site or another is just around the next corner waiting to be discovered. I find that children also like this time of the year as they don't suffer the heat of summer as much and there are always things for them to do.

Summertime instead, can be very crowded and the main cities run noisy with busloads of tourists and all kinds of people queuing up to get into one museum or art gallery or another. This is not fun for children to have to deal with. My suggestion to those of you who are forced to come in the full summer months, is to plan to visit a city or a museum in the course of the morning, and then take the kids back to your holiday Villa and let them relax and play in the swimming pool in the afternoon. When the heat goes down in the evening, a pleasant stroll in one of the local towns looking for artisan icecream can be a real treat. This makes it bearable both for you and for them.

With older kids, then you can extend your day trips further. I would choose an accomodation in the heart of the Chianti Classico region. That way you have access to the cities of Siena, Florence and San Gimignano that all merit a visit, and also to the little quaint towns of the Chianti such as Castellina in Chianti, Radda, Gaiole, Greve and Castelnuovo Berardenga, which are the heart of the Chianti Classico wine region. Any of these towns are fine and a house some 4 or 5 kms outside of town would be perfect.

Another choice you may want to make is whether you want to be totally independent (which means that you arrive and are handed over the keys to a private villa with its pool by the owner or the caretaker and you see them again on the following saturday), or in a shared residential complex where other families will be present and you can meet other people and your kids can mingle with other kids and find something to amuse them. I say this because we have a lot of parents of young kids who come back to us after a holiday and say that they wished they had chosen a place with other kids so that their own would have been busy playing with them instead of bugging the parents.

Let me close by saying that Pisa, Lucca and the seaside are all within day trips from the Chianti Classico region: many people don't realize that Italy from top to bottom is shorter than the state of California and that distances here are much less significant than what people normally face, for example, commuting back and forth to work in the US.